Tag Archives: thanksgiving

Student Creative Writing

🦃 Simple Thanks

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By: Canaan Nonnemacher

image from Gemini

The air is cold, but the sun is shining brightly. We all get together as the daylight starts to fade. The food smells warm and amazing, it feels like a cozy, happy, autumn day.

The window glass looks frosty and cold, like the season’s rain has finally been washed away. Everything feels calm and peaceful inside the room, getting rid of any bad feelings the winter might bring.

We take a moment to think about all the things we’re thankful for: like our home, our friends, and lots of other stuff. We share laughs and stories around the dinner table, just pausing to enjoy how happy we are together. We remember the strong, quiet love of our family, which you can see in everyone’s eyes. We’re thankful for people who helped us and cared, and for all the good times we’ve had.

We appreciate the food that came from the farm and everything the earth gives us to eat. We see the steaming dishes and the perfectly baked crusts it’s a moment made of simple love and trust.

It’s just a simple meal, and a simple moment of thanks, but love fills this comfortable spot. We eat and talk until we’re finished, knowing it was a wonderful day. We hang out for a long time, even when it gets late, with a bond of love that will last forever. And when we finally say our goodbyes, a sweet, thankful feeling stays with us.

Travel/Food

Top five Thanksgiving foods

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By: Alayanna Bouwens

Thanksgiving has some very unique and delicious foods. Let’s rank them all from most well known to least and break down why they may be so popular.

  1. Roast Turkey

What would Thanksgiving be without its classic roast turkey? After all when you think of Thanksgiving you think of turkeys; whether it’s a cartoon turkey, a president pardoning a turkey, or a cooked and sliced turkey. They are an obvious choice as they are big enough to feed large amounts of people, turkeys are relatively common and easy to raise, and turkey also goes with countless other dishes making it a good universal Thanksgiving food.

2. Stuffing

Of course what would the turkey be without its stuffing. What’s in the stuffing varies house to house but it traditionally has breadcrumbs, herbs, and diced vegetables. It offers a variety of flavor and fiber as well as comfort. The stuffing goes great with the turkey making it an obvious choice.

3. Pumpkin pie

When we think fall we think Thanksgiving and when we think Thanksgiving we think pumpkin pie. What would a Thanksgiving dinner be without delicious pumpkin pie for dessert? The pie is usually topped with whipped cream and nuts. Pumpkin pie offers a unique sweet taste as well as texture.

4. Baked macaroni and cheese

What would Thanksgiving be without its comfort food baked mac and cheese? It’s a fan favorite with its bread crumbs and carbs. Thanksgiving mac and cheese is typically baked in an oven till the top layer is a little bit crispy. No matter how you make it, mac and cheese goes with any other food and serves as an excellent side dish.

5. Cranberry sauce

What would all of the other foods be without cranberry sauce, bitter or sweet cranberry sauce goes with any and all Thanksgiving foods, you can dip your turkey in it, side it with any other food, or just eat it plain; anyway you serve the cranberry sauce it remains delicious.

It is important to remember that although all of these foods are delicious the true beauty of Thanksgiving is in taking a moment to be thankful and show gratitude to the small and big things. A great thing to be grateful for is the delicious Thanksgiving food or just food in general. Take some time to reflect on all the beautiful things that you are grateful for and find a way to show your appreciation to those things.

Note: All images created with Adobe AI

Getting To Know/History

The history of Thanksgiving

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By: Treshawn Ross

The First Thanksgiving: By: Jean Leon Gerome Ferris via Wikimedia Commons

Origins of Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving originally began in Plymouth, Massachusetts in the year 1621. Around  90 Native Americans from the Wampanoag tribe attended the celebration with 52 English people or “pilgrims”. This celebration was to mark a successful harvest and is remembered historically as the first Thanksgiving. No one in 1621 called this feast Thanksgiving despite modern thoughts around the event.

Native perspective

Many Native Americans today view Thanksgiving as a reminder of the heinous crimes committed by the pilgrims and the generations that came after them. Quite soon after the first Thanksgiving, a war ignited between the pilgrims and the Wampanoag people and this heavily weakened the Wampanoag politically and militarily. Thus, the Wampanoag became one of the first Native American nations to be victimized by the pilgrims.

After the Plymouth harvest

Different states of the early U.S. and eventually the federal government proclaimed days of thanksgiving at different times in a very non-centralized way. These days were more solemn and somber rather than fun and feasting as many Americans now know it. After many years of advocating for a national Thanksgiving holiday, magazine editor Sarah Hale got her wish. America had a new holiday with storied roots.

A Presidential decree

Thanksgiving got its date partly during one of the bloodiest conflicts in U.S. history, the Civil War. On October 3rd, 1863, President Lincoln issued a Thanksgiving proclamation to help heal the spirit of the broken nation. This decree set the standard of when Thanksgiving would be celebrated, “[O]bserve the last Thursday of November next, as a day of Thanksgiving”. This would last for decades until in the late 1930’s and early 1940’s when President Franklin D. Roosevelt moved the date to the second to last Thursday of November. 16 states refused to follow this proclamation which led to intense confusion. In 1941 congress passed a law establishing the fourth Thursday in November as the national holiday known as Thanksgiving.

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Events, Local

Turkey Trot

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By: Kara Fini

For many families the Turkey Trot is an annual Thanksgiving tradition. Usually held on Thanksgiving morning, people of all ages and running ability participate in local fun runs held all over the United States. The races differ in lengths, but the most common length today is a 5k.

The Turkey Trot originated in Buffalo, NY back in 1896. Only 6 people ran, all men, and they ran five miles in downtown Buffalo. Only 4 of them finished after one dropped out in the first two miles and the other couldn’t keep down Thanksgiving breakfast. They continued to hold this race as it gained more and more popularity over the next couple years. They thought it was a way to burn off calories before eating a bunch for Thanksgiving.

Every year since then, the Turkey Trot in Buffalo has been held. It reached cities like New Orleans in 1907, and Cincinnati in 1909. Even with the quick growth of the race, it wasn’t until 1972 that a woman raced the Buffalo Turkey Trot.

Now the Turkey Trot is a family fun run in many local neighborhoods and towns. From toddlers and babies in strollers to grandmas and grandpas, there are nearly 1 million people in the United States who run this fun run every year.

If you want to participate in the future, Highland Park hosts their own Turkey Trot that is 5k long. It costs around $35 for adults and $15 for kids under 17 to participate. The route starts and ends on the north side of Highland Catholic School. It goes south on Cleveland road and then turns to the west where you will run on River Road. Then you follow Highland Parkway back up to the start. Afterwards you are able to stop at Tiffany’s, a local restaurant, and have a free breakfast for participating.

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